The daughter of a professional dancer, Kylie Minogue received some instruction in dance as a child, but it was through acting that she eventually came to the public's attention. At the age of eleven she landed her first professional acting job on the Australian television series Skyways, followed by work on The Sullivans and a leading role on The Henderson Kids later in her teen years. By 17 she had left school and turned to acting as a full-time career, starring in the popular soap opera Neighbours. The door to the music industry opened accidentally when the young actress performed the 60s pop song The Loco-motion at a charity event featuring appearances by The Neighbours' cast; executives at a local label smelled blood, and immediately recorded and released a single of her version of the song. It would remain at the top of the Australian charts for seven weeks.

Shortly thereafter a deal with PWL Records was struck, and Minogue was shipped off to London to take a ride down the hit song assembly line run by producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman. The first result was I Should Be So Lucky, a #1 in both the U.K. and Australian markets; a plethora of similarly popular singles and two full-length releases -- Kylie (1988) and Enjoy Yourself (1989) -- pillaged the charts throughout the remainder of the decade. A leading role in her first feature film, 1989's The Deliquents, added the cherry to the top of her big pop music sundae, while participation in the remake of the benefit single Do They Know It's Christmas threw in the nut-sprinkles of social consciousness.

A transformation of Minogue's image was made shortly after the completion of her arrangement with PWL in 1993. While her former handlers insisted on an innocent, girlish affectation, the singer was ready for a more vigorous presentation of her womanly qualities -- an inclination reflected by the subsequent releases on her new label, Deconstuction. Beginning with 1994's Kylie Minogue, a more mature personality took shape, reinforced (albeit in a cartoonish way) by her role that same year in the video-game-turned-action-film Street Fighter. This new image would be given a more serious turn in her 1995 duet with Nick Cave, Where The Wild Roses Grow, in which Minogue adopts the role of a young woman murdered by her male suitor.

Following a high-profile tour of the UK and Australia in 1998 and the release of a self-themed art book in 1999, Minogue made a switch to Parlophone Records and set off once again down the disco highway, moving back up to the top of the charts with the single Spinning Around and the album Light Years (2000). The sexual overtones were cranked up even further with 2001's Fever, and the public interest rose accordingly, making the record a popular hit not only in her long-conquered British and Australian territories, but in the States as well. A successful return to her film career, previously limping along through appearances in retarded comedy (1996's Bio-Dome) and slasher fare (2000's Cut) was also made in 2001 with the musical Moulin Rouge!.